San Francisco 2033: You Will Own Nothing And Be Happy

This is simply a science-fiction portion by Jameson Lopp, nonrecreational Cypherpunk and cofounder and CTO astatine Casa.

“Good morning.” I’m mildly awoken by my astute watch’s soothing pistillate voice. It’s a spot robotic but does person a interaction of property and charm.

“Today is Monday, October 31, 2033,” it continues. “Your play basal income of $3,432 has been deposited into your account. $1,049 was withheld to wage your pupil loan. $2,300 was withheld for your landlord, Blackstone Hathaway.”

Shit. That’s a spot much than past week; determination indispensable person been different ostentation adjustment.

I descent retired of my subterranean pod connected the outskirts of San Francisco. The cabal of task superior firms had successfully staved disconnected immoderate efforts to physique high-rise housing, truthful determination was obscurity to spell but down. Why bash I inactive unrecorded successful this hellhole? Because I can’t spend to flight the confines of the information nett that allows maine to survive.

In a erstwhile beingness I was a copywriter for the San Francisco Chronicle, but specified jobs person been long-since replaced by AI. The Chronicle has go a glorified propaganda mouthpiece for the government: FedGov says that you indispensable question employment. FedGov volition wage you to enactment for it. FedGov sets a level connected your income truthful that you tin person a basal modular of living, lo and behold! FedGov besides sets a ceiling connected your income truthful that you cannot flight your spot successful their expansive scheme. The Fed is your friend. The Fed feeds you. The Fed cares.

I don my basal exemplary iGlasses. They're truthful inexpensive that they're made of modular solid alternatively than Gorilla Glass. Everyone wears immoderate benignant of iGlasses, though achromatic collar folks often upgrade to iContacts portion 1 percenters opt for the imperishable ocular implants colloquially called iEyes. Each exemplary works connected the aforesaid premise: it overlays your imaginativeness with accusation from the net truthful that wherever you are, you tin larn much astir your surroundings.

I begrudgingly statesman my trek to the dingy java store connected Turk thoroughfare wherever freelance gigs are sometimes available. Everywhere I look, my presumption is augmented with advertisements floating successful space. Thankfully, FedGov mandates that iGlass ads can’t transcend 50% opacity owed to the information issues it tin cause, but the obstructions tin get rather annoying. I privation I could spend the advertisement blocker upgrade, but the ads subsidize the outgo of the glasses.

I determine to multitask portion walking and drawback up connected the news. Not from FedGov mouthpieces, of people — I person cautiously curated a batch of autarkic journalists to travel connected Twitter. I myself don’t tweet immoderate more, nevertheless — it’s excessively risky. While we inactive person First Amendment protection, that conscionable means I can’t beryllium imprisoned for my tweets. Disseminating arguable opinions would get maine booted from a assortment of captious services. For example, portion we bash person the close to cosmopolitan basal income (UBI), we don’t person the close to a Fed account… and without one, it’s a immense symptom to really person payments. An adjacent worse imaginable result would beryllium Apple shutting disconnected my iGlasses; that would beryllium tantamount to crippling maine by chopping disconnected 1 of my limbs!

After scrolling lone a twelve tweets heavy into my timeline I find myself physically falling forward. My instincts instrumentality implicit and I drawback myself connected my knees and palms. As symptom shoots done my body, my archetypal thoughts are of alleviation that my iGlasses are undamaged. I look implicit and spot a stateless idiosyncratic laying crossed the path, wrapped successful tattered blankets. Normally I’d springiness the antheral an earful for obstructing this close of way, but helium is intelligibly zoned out, heavy successful the metaverse to flight the world of his situation. I chuckle arsenic I callback the aboriginal pro-UBI propaganda that claimed it would lick homelessness. Those folks indispensable not person heard the operation “you tin pb a equine to h2o but you can’t marque it drink.” For some, the unfastened streets are preferable to the claustrophobia-inducing pods.

I proceed connected my way, making a enactment to find immoderate replacement pants. In general, my apparel are getting threadbare; it has been years since I’ve been capable to spend caller garments. Even utilized apparel are becoming progressively unaffordable arsenic request outpaces proviso owed to FedGov policies that restrict imports successful an effort to boost home manufacturing jobs… which automation has each but eradicated.

There isn’t overmuch enactment successful this grimy portion of municipality these days — astir employers person been sucked up by mega-corporations oregon shuttered erstwhile they couldn’t vie with cloud-based AI that could supply digitized labour for pennies connected the dollar. But each small spot of income helps. As agelong arsenic I support filling retired applications, submitting proposals for projects connected freelance platforms, and networking similar crazy, possibly 1 time things volition alteration for maine too.

After a agelong time of fruitless gig hunting I person to hurry to the country store to bargain nutrient earlier those earmarked funds are revoked owed to inactivity. Big Brother likes to spot precocious economical velocity; we can’t conscionable permission wealth sitting astir idly! At slightest I don’t person anyplace adjacent the level of funds that I request to interest astir being affected by the antagonistic involvement rates that are applied to the accounts of 1 percenters.

After gathering capable highly-processed sustenance for the week it’s clip to pay. Gone are the checkout lines of yesteryear; the store’s sensors person already tallied up my measure arsenic I spot items into my buying bag. As I attack the locked, one-way exit turnstile determination is simply a momentary intermission arsenic the iGlasses scan my retina to authorize the outgo and get past the KYC firewall. The Fed had to instrumentality this a fewer years backmost aft unscrupulous folks stopped reporting the deaths of their household members truthful that they could walk their stipends.

On my mode location done a seedier conception of the metropolis without galore FedGov patrol units I perceive a dependable telephone retired from an alley.

“Pssst. Nice groceries. You successful the marketplace for eggs?”

It definite would beryllium bully to person immoderate non-synthetic macromolecule for once! I instrumentality a gander astatine the man’s wares, but my iGlasses don’t show immoderate prices. Nor tin I spot his societal recognition score. Odd. Is this feline moving cloaking tech?

“Might be,” I respond. “How overmuch for a dozen?”

“I’m looking for 50 sats, springiness oregon take” helium says.

Oh boy; the Fed frowns upon utilizing unsanctioned currency!

“I don’t person sats. How galore dollars?”

“Sorry, dollars are excessively risky. I’m not a licensed merchant. Too galore questions from the Fed; they're conscionable looking for an excuse to rug propulsion me. Even if they don’t, I can’t spend the 20% peer-to-peer taxation they’ll instrumentality from the transaction. Bitcoin’s better; it’s not taxable to cardinal slope bullshit.”

I crook distant to see my options; I stake FedGov would beryllium funny to cognize astir this taxation evader… but my iGlasses abruptly amusement an alert, outlining the look of a pistillate who has conscionable walked by.

A connection scrolls crossed my tract of view:

“WARRANT ISSUED: $50,000 REWARD.

“Carla Jennings is wanted by the Fed for engaging successful achromatic marketplace exchange.”

My pulse quickens. This overmuch wealth would supply immoderate fiscal cushion and mightiness adjacent beryllium capable for a information deposit connected a pod with a afloat kitchen. Best not to deliberation excessively hard astir the philosophical quandary; portion Carla has not caused maine nonstop harm, she is moving against the nationalist bully by selfishly ignoring the directives of the Fed.

“Accept gig,” I reply with a sigh.

“Ma’am, I’m atrocious but I request you to travel with me,” I accidental arsenic I food a fewer zip ties retired of my pocket. She bolts.

“Stop close there!” I yell, taking up pursuit. She is faster than maine due to the fact that I debar stepping connected FedGov sidewalks; each measurement gets logged and microtransaction tolls are deducted from your Fed relationship successful realtime.

As I’m astir to suffer show of my quarry, I bash immoderate speedy intelligence mathematics and determine that the toll disbursal is worthy the imaginable reward. I yet drawback up and tackle her connected Market Street. I look astir to spot if anyone is successful earshot.

“Give it up,” I whisper.

“Fuck you,” she spits back. I person to instrumentality power of the situation, truthful I gaffe the zip ties astir her wrists. She lets retired a furious outcry arsenic I hunt her belongings.

“What person we here?” I exclaim arsenic I propulsion a thumb-sized circuit committee retired of her purse.

“Please, don’t. Those are my lone savings that are harmless from the Fed!”

“Bitcoin, huh? I definite could person utilized immoderate sats earlier. Alas, the Feds already cognize I’ve detained you. Agents volition beryllium present momentarily. They’re going to unit you to unlock this unauthorized wallet.”

I tin spot the panic successful her eyes — she knows what would hap if the Feds can’t entree her backstage keys. Years of labour successful the information mines for her to wage disconnected the fines. Oh, the irony.

But I person to enactment beardown for our struggling economy; small other matters to the Fed but stomping retired dependable wealth successful these pugnacious times. Despite it being against my ain aforesaid interest, I person small prime but to support accepting missions to ace down connected cryptocurrency truthful that it tin beryllium removed from circulation.

Muttering to myself, I crook Carla implicit to the Fed agents and spot the bounty credited to my account. She sobs and struggles arsenic they haul her away. Yet I alloy myself and ideate the suffering that tin hap erstwhile nine tries to run without a stable, centralized fiscal system. We’re each successful this together; there’s nary spot for selfishness.

While walking location on a convoluted way to debar arsenic galore FedGov sidewalks arsenic possible, I bespeak upon however the satellite has changed implicit the decades. It is hard to judge that this country erstwhile was the cradle of the Cypherpunk question that spawned cryptocurrency and beardown anti-Fed sentiments.

The winds of alteration near those ideals behind, and FedGov loyalists present power each facet of society. Privacy and sovereignty are thing but a distant memory. FedGov has an anti-privacy mandate, outlawing each bundle and hardware that facilitates cryptocurrency and unafraid messaging. Even those who inactive cling to the past find it hard to evade being tracked by the dense mesh of sensors embedded successful each tech product, each store, each home, each street.

Today’s gig isn’t beingness changing but it volition astatine slightest let maine to spend immoderate caller clothes. I’ll person to beryllium blessed with daydreaming that my national lottery summons volition triumph this period and my cosmopolitan basal income volition get upgraded to idiosyncratic comfortableness positive income…

This is simply a impermanent station by Jameson Lopp. Opinions expressed are wholly their ain and bash not needfully bespeak those of BTC Inc oregon Bitcoin Magazine.